This book offers a practical approach to modeling real-world discrete systems and performing analysis. The theory behind the book is the Colored Petri nets, and the tool used for simulations is general-purpose Petri net simulator (GPenSIM). The theory part is kept to a minimum, and more explanation is given to the GPenSIM functions and how they can be used for modeling, simulation, and performance analysis. Real-world industrial systems possess a large number of resources. Modeling these systems with Petri nets would become a problem as they result in huge Petri net models. This book offers a unique solution to this problem by moving resources away from the Petri net model and treating them as variables in the background. Also, the theory and practice put forward in the book help cost estimation of the systems (e.g., manufacturing subsystems).

This book offers a new Modular Petri Net as a solution to the vast Petri net models. It presents some approaches centering around modules (known as “Petri modules”). The goal of this book is to introduce a methodology in which Petri nets are moved to a new level. In this new level, large Petri net models are made of Petri modules, which are independent and run on different computers. This book also contains the literature study on modular Petri nets and definitions for the newer Petri modules. Also, algorithms for extracting Petri modules, and algorithms for connecting Petri modules, and applications are given in this book. Besides, the ideas and algorithms given in this book are implemented in the software General-purpose Petri Net Simulator (GPenSIM). Hence, with the use of this book the readers/users would be able to know that real-life discrete event systems could be modeled, analyzed, and performance-optimized with GPenSIM.

Written by a leading researcher this book presents an introduction to Stochastic Petri Nets covering the modeling power of the proposed SPN model, the stability conditions and the simulation methods. Its unique and well-written approach provides a timely and important addition to the literature. Appeals to a wide range of researchers in engineering, computer science, mathematics and OR.

Discrete-event dynamic systems (DEDs) permeate our world. They are of great importance in modern manufacturing processes, transportation and various forms of computer and communications networking. This book begins with the mathematical basics required for the study of DEDs and moves on to present various tools used in their modeling and control. Industrial examples illustrate the concepts and methods discussed, making this book an invaluable aid for students embarking on further courses in control, manufacturing engineering or computer studies.

Modeling Discrete-Event Systems with GPenSIM describes the design and applications of General Purpose Petri Net Simulator (GPenSIM), which is a software tool for modeling, simulation, and performance analysis of discrete-event systems. The brief explains the principles of modelling discrete-event systems, as well as the design and applications of GPenSIM. It is based on the author’s lectures that were given on “modeling, simulation, and performance analysis of discrete event systems”. The brief uses GPenSIM to enable the efficient modeling of complex and large-scale discrete-event systems. GPenSIM, which is based on MATLAB®, is designed to allow easy integration of Petri net models with a vast number of toolboxes that are available on the MATLAB®. The book offers an approach for developing models that can interact with the external environment; this will help readers to solve problems in industrial diverse fields. These problems include: airport capacity evaluation for aviation authorities; finding bottlenecks in supply chains; scheduling drilling operations in the oil and gas industry; and optimal scheduling of jobs in grid computing. This brief is of interest to researchers working on the modeling, simulation and performance evaluation of discrete-event systems, as it shows them the design and applications of an efficient modeling package. Since the book also explains the basic principles of modeling discrete-event systems in a step-by-step manner, it is also of interest to final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Petri Net Synthesis for Discrete Event Control of Manufacturing Systems develops two essential resource-sharing concepts: parallel and sequential mutual exclusions and theoretical results in Petri synthesis. A parallel mutual exclusion (PME) is defined to model a resource shared by independent distributed processes, and a sequential mutual exclusion is a sequential composition of PMEs, modeling a resource shared by sequentially-related processes. A hybrid synthesis methodology for Petri net models and controllers is proposed using top-down, modular, and bottom-up design ideas and the mutual exclusion theory. An aggregate Petri net model is refined by replacing places and /or transitions with basic design modules which are mathematically and graphically described. Petri net design methods are presented for such buffers as automatic storage and retrieval systems. Using the proposed method synthesizes both Petri net structure and feasible initial markings, guaranteeing that resulting Petri nets have desirable system properties such as freedom from deadlock and cyclic behavior. A Petri net controller is extended to error recovery for automated manufacturing systems. The theory can guarantee that the desired system properties achieved by the original design will be preserved when the controller is augmented to deal with an error in the prescribed methods. Control code has been directly generated from Petri net definitions. The algorithm and implementation details are given for a flexible manufacturing system. Using the approach presented in Petri Net Synthesis for Discrete Event Control of Manufacturing Systems, engineers and research workers can develop their own discrete event control applications and experiments.